Mercenaries/Session 35
20:00 <~abudhabi> GENTLEMEN. 20:02 <&Remmon> Where? 20:02 <~abudhabi> Where's maz? 20:02 <&Remmon> Right here in the channel 20:03 <~abudhabi> That's not good enough! 20:05 -!- Liam Liam@Nightstar-3745ao.range86-140.btcentralplus.com has joined #Traveller 20:05 -!- mode/#traveller Liam Liam by ChanServ 20:05 -!- Liam is now known as Vittorio 20:06 <~abudhabi> Well, suit up while we wait for maz. He's been sent on recon, so he actually should need to be here. 20:06 -!- Nuramor is now known as Lucas 20:06 -!- Remmon is now known as Arthur 20:07 <~abudhabi> Recap: Last time, you lost your ship to pre-Stellar savages, but at least saved your own lives and retained the Speedle. 20:07 <~abudhabi> You are on the coast, near a village, and the Speedle is in a cave. 20:07 <~abudhabi> Luffy has been sent to do recon on the village. 20:11 <~abudhabi> What are you others doing, while Luffy is on recon? 20:12 <&Arthur> Keeping a lookout? 20:13 < Lucas> Making sure the Speedle hasnt taken too much damage from the impact. 20:13 < Lucas> And assorted maintenance 20:13 <~abudhabi> Lucas: EduMechanics. 20:13 < Lucas> !2d6+1+1:checking stuff 20:13 <+PainBot> Lucas rolled "checking stuff": (1+5)+1+1. Total: 8. 20:14 <~abudhabi> Lucas: The Speedle is, remarkably, undamaged. You might want to remove the scorch marks, though, or rope someone into doing it for you. 20:15 < Lucas> Eh, as long as it doesn't impact performance. 20:16 < Lucas> I'm just gonna suggest it to Vittorio as something he can make Luffy do if he needs busywork for him. 20:18 <~abudhabi> OK, Luffy gets NPC'd temporarily. 20:18 <~abudhabi> !roll 2d6 20:18 <+PainBot> abudhabi rolled "2d6": (3+5). Total: 8. 20:18 <~abudhabi> !roll 2d6+5 20:18 <+PainBot> abudhabi rolled "2d6+5": (1+3)+5. Total: 9. 20:19 <~abudhabi> Luffy returns after about an hour. He reports that there are about fifty inhabitants in the village. Anything you want to ask him? 20:19 <&Vittorio> "what are they dressed like?" 20:22 <~abudhabi> Luffy: "They're, like, in long coats and everyone has helmets and filters on. Everyone's carrying a weapon of some sort." 20:23 <&Vittorio> "so we might be able to mix in with the locals then..." 20:24 <~abudhabi> Luffy: "Their clothes don't really look like ours, though. Not space suits." 20:24 <&Arthur> "Helmets and filters will make visual identification harder. Long coats means the less obtrusive armour will be easily hidden." 20:26 < Lucas> "Why is there a 'village' where everyone is armed and dressed in heavy clothes?" 20:27 < Lucas> "Wouldn't that be more of a military camp?" 20:27 <&Vittorio> "local customs? Local wildlife" 20:27 <~abudhabi> Luffy: "I think I saw some kids and women too." 20:27 <&Arthur> "I'm more concerned about the helmets. Ubiquitous firearms and heavy clothes could easily be local adaptions, but why are they wearing helmets?" 20:28 <&Vittorio> "Well, whats the airquality like here?" 20:28 <~abudhabi> Anyone got an air analyzer? 20:29 <&Vittorio> ((nope)) 20:30 <&Arthur> (The vacc suits should at least indicate how safe the air is, even if they're equiped to give specifics) 20:31 <~abudhabi> (Should they? I seem to recall there being an *option* to have a safe/unsafe diagnostic for suits, but not the suits themselves.) 20:31 <~abudhabi> (Wanna check the CSC for that armour option?) 20:35 <&Arthur> (It's TL8, 100cr) 20:37 <~abudhabi> Right. So who's ordering Luffy to take a swig of air? 20:38 <&Vittorio> (sounds like the captain's job) 20:39 * Arthur checks the Speedle for the air quality 20:39 <~abudhabi> Arthur: It is rated "unsafe" by the simplistic analyzer. 20:39 <~abudhabi> Pressure's about standard. 20:40 <&Arthur> (I assume the oxygen level's okay?) 20:41 <~abudhabi> There's no special metric for that. The enviroreader only checks whether it's safe. OTOH, you can probably experimentally determine oxygen content. 20:43 <~abudhabi> So. What do? 20:45 * Vittorio looks to dogan 20:45 <~abudhabi> Dogen looks at Vittorio. 20:45 <&Vittorio> "do we know what language is spoken here by the local population?" 20:46 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "I'd guess native, plus Zdetl among the educated class." 20:47 <&Arthur> "Our translators can definitely handle Zdetl. I wonder if the native here was catalogued recently enough to be in our translators or is close enough to something that was." 20:49 <&Arthur> "We should get some more intel on that village and see if we can get any maps from there." 20:49 <&Vittorio> "well, i'd suggest we try and find out from the locals if there are any ships on this benighted world and if we can steal it" 20:52 <&Arthur> "If there are ships, the most likely place to find them will be the starport." 20:53 <&Vittorio> "right, but arrival schedules, crews, if any of the locals have ships... if they deal with any smugglers we can also deal with - that kind of thing" 20:54 <&Arthur> "Smugglers are an option if we can find any." 20:55 <&Vittorio> "Right, so we need somethign that looks like local garb, and then someway of testing out the translators without blowing our cover if it dosn't work" 20:56 <&Arthur> "Our best option will be to get us close to the village and for Luffy to acquire some clothes. Then we can find someone away from the rest to test the translators and test the waters." 20:58 <&Vittorio> "how do we 'acquire' these clothes, I'm not being funny but killing off the locals to dress like them and turning up in the village wearing uncle arthurs trademark facemask is asking for trouble" 20:59 -!- Netsplit *.net <-> *.split quits: @TaranTatsuuchi, @Arthur, @Vittorio, +PainBot 21:00 -!- Netsplit over, joins: +PainBot, &Arthur, &TaranTatsuuchi, &Vittorio 21:00 <&Arthur> "The easiest way would be to borrow some clothes out off a clothesline or out of someone's laundry." 21:01 <&Arthur> "If we can't manage that, we'll just have to skip to part two and hope we can get clothes that way." 21:01 <&Vittorio> "sounds good then, lets go see what we can find out there" 21:08 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "Who's on point?" 21:09 <&Arthur> "Luffy can scout, I'll take point in our group." 21:11 * Vittorio will take the rear then 21:13 <~abudhabi> Lucas? You in the middle? 21:14 <~abudhabi> !roll 2d6+5: Luffy's scouting 21:14 <+PainBot> abudhabi rolled "Luffy's scouting": (4+5)+5. Total: 14. 21:14 < Lucas> Yes 21:14 <~abudhabi> !roll 2d6: Yessiree 21:14 <+PainBot> abudhabi rolled "Yessiree": (2+5). Total: 7. 21:14 <~abudhabi> Roll Dex/Int + Stealth checks. 21:14 <&Arthur> !2d6+3: IntStealth 21:14 <+PainBot> Arthur rolled "IntStealth": (4+2)+3. Total: 9. 21:15 < Lucas> !2d6+2-3:IntStealth 21:15 <+PainBot> Lucas rolled "IntStealth": (6+5)+2-3. Total: 10. 21:15 <&Vittorio> !2d6+2-3+1 : Int Stealth 21:15 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Int Stealth": (4+2)+2-3+1. Total: 6. 21:16 <~abudhabi> !roll 2d6,10 21:16 <+PainBot> abudhabi rolled "2d6,10": (6+3), (6+1), (2+6), (6+6), (2+5), (6+2), (5+4), (1+1), (5+4), (2+4). Total: 9 7 8 12 7 8 9 2 9 6. 21:17 <~abudhabi> You make your approach to the village apparently undetected. Luffy points out a clothesline next to a house - it's more like a dome with an entrance and windows. There are people nearby, but they haven't detected you yet - you think. 21:20 <&Arthur> "Luffy, grab us some clothes and retreat back to us. We'll fall back a little to get disguised." 21:20 * Arthur keeps an eye on the locals to see how they're having. 21:21 <&Arthur> *behaving 21:21 <~abudhabi> Arthur: Roll Int + Recon. 21:22 <&Arthur> !2d6+5: IntRecon 21:22 <+PainBot> Arthur rolled "IntRecon": (5+5)+5. Total: 15. 21:23 <~abudhabi> Arthur: Your keen senses indicate that you have, in fact, been noticed. And a group of the locals are attempting to flank you right now! 21:23 <&Arthur> "We're being flanked." 21:24 <&Arthur> (What kind of weaponry are these people armed with and do they act like hunters, military or what?) 21:25 <&Vittorio> "Withdraw or should we try and make peaceful contact?" 21:25 <~abudhabi> Arthur: Rifles for the most part. They act more like hunters than proper military. 21:26 <&Arthur> "Let's move to minimise the flank while we make contact. We can try to make peaceful contact." 21:27 <&Vittorio> "Ok, how do we do that?" 21:29 <&Arthur> "Let's withdraw straight back first, to avoid contact from the village. Then we can move into the flanking force." 21:32 <~abudhabi> Roll DexStealth. 21:32 < Lucas> !2d6-3:DexStealth 21:32 <+PainBot> Lucas rolled "DexStealth": (6+5)-3. Total: 8. 21:33 <&Vittorio> !2d6-3+2+1 : Dex Stealth 21:33 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Dex Stealth": (4+5)-3+2+1. Total: 9. 21:33 <&Arthur> !2d6+2: DexStealth 21:33 <+PainBot> Arthur rolled "DexStealth": (5+5)+2. Total: 12. 21:34 <~abudhabi> You successfully outmaneuver the village team. What's next? 21:34 <~abudhabi> Are you meeting them head-on? 21:34 <~abudhabi> How overt are you? 21:35 <&Arthur> Now, we can openly move towards the flanking team, so they can see we're armed but not pointing guns at them. 21:35 <~abudhabi> One of them stands up and shouts something. Your translators don't recognize it. 21:36 * Arthur switches his translator to Zdetl and replies "I do not understand your language, do you understand me?" 21:37 <~abudhabi> Stranger, in Zdetl: "Identify yourselves!" 21:37 <&Arthur> "I'm Arthur Bowen. Who are you?" 21:39 <~abudhabi> Stranger: "I'm Watko Mowa! Where are you from? What is that you are wearing?" 21:41 <&Arthur> "We're from off world. These suits are designed to protect us from vacuum or hazardous atmospheres. Do you know why our sensors indicate the air here is hazardous?" 21:42 <~abudhabi> "Off-world! Was that you who came in the ship yesterday?" 21:43 <&Arthur> "It was." 21:44 <~abudhabi> "Was that you who destroyed Liberty City?!" 21:44 <&Arthur> "We may have shattered some windows when the local government tried to arrest us, I'm not aware of any more serious damage." 21:45 <~abudhabi> "Some windows?! All windows! Tens of thousands wounded! Hundreds dead!" 21:46 <&Arthur> "That is a lot more serious than I was expecting." 21:48 <~abudhabi> "You did that on purpose?!" 21:48 <&Arthur> "We did not. We were attacked by the Zhodani at your starport." 21:49 <~abudhabi> Even at the distance, he does not seem convinced. 21:50 <&Arthur> "We do not wish to fight you or your government, our problem is exclusively with the Zhodani. Do you know of any ways off world besides the starport? Any smugglers or such?" 21:51 <~abudhabi> "Smugglers? What? We're free here!" 21:51 <&Arthur> "Your starport is under control of the Zhodani. That means your government probably is as well." 21:53 <~abudhabi> "The Zhodani are our business partners! They bought the land they built the starport on, and are entitled to do whatever they wish there, just like we are entitled to do anything we, indivudually, wish to do!" 21:57 <&Arthur> "We have a lot of experience with the way the Zhodani do things and I can assure you that they will not just stay business partners. Like many worlds before this, they will seek first to covertly control the government, then overtly partner with them before gradually taking control." 21:57 <&Arthur> "How long ago did the Zhodani arrive here?" 21:57 <&Arthur> (brb) 21:57 -!- Nuramor Nuramor@Nightstar-i9ghh4.dip0.t-ipconnect.de has joined #Traveller 21:58 <~abudhabi> "They've been here for two hundred years!" 21:59 -!- Lucas Nuramor@Nightstar-i9ghh4.dip0.t-ipconnect.de has quit timeout: 121 seconds 21:59 <&Arthur> (back) 21:59 -!- Nuramor is now known as Lucas 21:59 <&Arthur> "Do starships from any other groups visit here?" 22:01 <~abudhabi> Another of the strangers, hiding like most of them behind a dune, "Don't tell them anything, Wat!" 22:02 <~abudhabi> Watko: "I think you should leave!" 22:03 <&Arthur> "I agree, which is why we're trying to find a way off this world." 22:04 * Vittorio will speak up 22:04 <~abudhabi> "Then go to the starport! It's that way!" 22:05 <&Vittorio> "look friends, we just landed here to refule, when we landed they sent out troops to board our ship and take us captive, we fled and they shot at us with the starport defences - we'd done nothing wrong and we didn't mean to hurt people when we tried to escape" 22:06 <~abudhabi> Roll Int + Persuade. 22:07 <&Vittorio> !2d6+2 : Int Persuade 22:07 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Int Persuade": (6+4)+2. Total: 12. 22:08 <~abudhabi> "I'm not sure I believe you! But I'm not sure that you're lying, either!" 22:11 <~abudhabi> He and his comrades confer together. 22:12 <&Vittorio> "Thats fair friend, thats fair - it all sounds insane I know - we just want to get out of here without the Zhodani killing us" 22:14 <~abudhabi> Watko: "Like I said, the starport is that way! We're not going to chase you. We want to be left in peace." 22:14 <~abudhabi> He points eastwards. 22:14 <&Arthur> "Could you trade us some clothes? These suits obviously attract too much attention." 22:15 <~abudhabi> "What are you offering in return?" 22:16 <&Arthur> "How about a hand computer?" 22:16 <&Arthur> "If you have diving gear, we could give you the location of our ship's wreck. There's a fair amount of weapons and armour in there that probably survived the crash." 22:18 <~abudhabi> "What kind of hand computer? We already know where your ship crashed. It's over in the water, where all the ships are!" 22:19 * Arthur pulls out his hand computer. 22:20 <~abudhabi> "Come over halfway, I'll do the same!" 22:20 <&Arthur> "Okay." 22:21 * Arthur heads over to meet Watko Mowa 22:21 <~abudhabi> He meets you halfway. He proceeds to examine the computer. What kind of computer is it? 22:22 <&Arthur> Hand computer/2, TL11 22:22 <&Arthur> It's loaded with Intelligent Interface and expert softs for Admin, Astrogation, Mechanics and Sensors. 22:25 <~abudhabi> "I preliminarily accept your offer. You will receive survival coats, one for each of you, in exchange for this hand computer." 22:28 <&Arthur> "We may need some filter masks as well. Our suit helmets are a little noticeable." 22:28 <~abudhabi> "Do you have anything else to trade?" 22:30 * Vittorio will indicate he has nothing but the weapons and clothes he has on him if Arthur is looking to see if anyone else has anything to trade 22:30 <&Arthur> "I have some high powered radios and we have weapons, however the weapons wouldn't be of much use to you without more ammunition. I have more software for that computer as well." 22:31 <~abudhabi> "What range on the radios? What kind of batteries do they use? What kind of weapons? Slug throwers or light beams? What kind of software?" 22:32 <~abudhabi> You get the impression that he gets to haggle a lot. 22:33 <&Arthur> "Hmm. Both of the regular radios should reach around five thousand kilometers, probably more than anything portable your people can make." 22:34 <&Arthur> "We have some gauss weapons, but we still have need of those and the launchers I've got only have a few shots, you would not be able to manufacture ammo for them given the technology you appear to have." 22:35 <&Arthur> "For the software, the types you can use would be most of the science software, designed to help with everything from Chemistry all the way up to Xenology." 22:36 <~abudhabi> He offers filter masks for all of you in exchange for the radio and software. 22:37 * Arthur will try to haggle him down to either the radio or the software, not both. 22:37 <&Arthur> Unless of course, he might have something more to offer. 22:38 <~abudhabi> Roll Int + Barter! 22:38 <~abudhabi> *Broker 22:39 * Arthur gets Vittorio to do the haggling, in that case. That's why we hired him! 22:39 <&Vittorio> !2d6+4 : Int Broker 22:39 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Int Broker": (2+6)+4. Total: 12. 22:39 <~abudhabi> !roll 2d6+3 22:39 <+PainBot> abudhabi rolled "2d6+3": (4+6)+3. Total: 13. 22:39 <~abudhabi> He insists. 22:41 <&Arthur> How many of them here? 22:41 <~abudhabi> The ones you can see are eight. 22:43 * Arthur agrees somewhat reluctantly. 22:44 <~abudhabi> "Splendid!" he turns to his comrades. "Poz! Bach! Run over to the store and fetch suits and masks for all of them!" 22:45 <~abudhabi> They run off, giving you a wide berth, to the village. 22:47 <~abudhabi> They return, minutes later, loaded with gear. 22:47 <~abudhabi> "Verify your purchases, please." 22:48 * Lucas checks the gear 22:49 * Arthur checks the gear's suitability as disguises. 22:50 <~abudhabi> Lucas: These are durable, full length coats. Armour 3. The masks work as filters, and include helmets. 22:51 <~abudhabi> Arthur: They don't look particularly different from that the locals are wearing. 22:51 <&Arthur> Are they big enough to hide our suits, minus helmets, under? 22:52 <~abudhabi> Depends exactly what your suits are. 22:52 <&Arthur> Advanced boarding vacc suits. Not sure what Dogen is wearing. 22:53 <~abudhabi> TL14 vacc suit, he is. 22:53 <~abudhabi> Dogen would look mildly like an onion. You guys would look more than a little strange. 22:54 <&Vittorio> "We'll have to leave the suits in the speedle and hide that until we've scoped out the lay of the land" 22:55 <&Arthur> Can I make these into something more suitable for disguising us or would I need longer/thinner/etc. coats for that? 22:56 <~abudhabi> Arthur: You can try, if you feel like a seamstress. 22:57 <&Arthur> This is why I brought a disguise kit, so sure. 22:57 <&Arthur> "We should be okay wearing the suits after I make some changes. These will do nicely." 22:57 <~abudhabi> "This compact is sealed!" He and his assistants take the radio and computer (with softs). 23:00 <~abudhabi> "We'll be going now." 23:00 <&Arthur> "Good hunting, I suppose." 23:02 <~abudhabi> The give you a large berth again. 23:02 <&Arthur> "Right, let's pack up and leave the area." 23:03 <~abudhabi> To the Speedle first, sew up disguises, then move to starport? 23:03 < Lucas> "Let's make sure they don't follow us immediately." 23:05 <&Arthur> To the Speedle after a detour to make sure we re not followed. 23:06 <&Vittorio> "Ok, lets do this then 23:07 <~abudhabi> Right. You're not visibly followed. Anyone want to roll Int/Edu + Trade (sewing) to modify the coats? 23:07 <&Arthur> How about Deception, which is listed as the skill used to fashion disguises? 23:08 <~abudhabi> OK, Int/Edu + Deception at -2, since it's a stretch in this instance. 23:10 <&Arthur> !2d6+5-2: IntDeception sewing! 23:10 <+PainBot> Arthur rolled "IntDeception sewing!": (6+2)+5-2. Total: 11. 23:10 * Arthur pulls out his disguise kit and commences improving on their cloaks and general disguises. 23:10 <~abudhabi> You remove all unnecessary padding. You won't look so ridiculous, but at the same time, this is no longer armour. 23:11 * Arthur is fine with this, since the armour wasn't adding much anyways 23:12 <~abudhabi> !roll 1d6 23:12 <+PainBot> abudhabi rolled "1d6": (4). Total: 4. 23:12 <~abudhabi> You spend four hours modifying suits for everyone. 23:15 * Arthur attempts to plan a safe approach to the starport, driving the Speedle close without being spotted. 23:16 <~abudhabi> Int + Drive! 23:17 <&Arthur> 2d6+2: IntDrive. Any suggestions from the others? 23:17 <&Arthur> !2d6+2: IntDrive. Any suggestions from the others? 23:17 <+PainBot> Arthur rolled "IntDrive. Any suggestions from the others?": (3+2)+2. Total: 7. 23:17 < Lucas> Drive better? 23:18 <~abudhabi> Do you say that aloud? 23:18 < Lucas> Depends on the amount of potholes he hits. 23:19 <&Vittorio> "Dont get us killed, dont go in guns blazing and can we disguise the speedle so it looks less obviously imperial in design?" 23:19 <~abudhabi> Arthur: You think the best way would be to find a road going in that direction and follow it. Less chance of getting lost. 23:20 <&Arthur> "The problem isn't so much that it looks Imperial as much as it is that's a fucking tank." 23:20 <&Arthur> *That it's a fucking 23:23 <&Vittorio> "Ok, so how about we knock up some cammo, and keep an eye out for planes and we pull over and wait for them to pass if any go overhead, since I'd really like to not be blown apart by the locals" 23:23 <&Arthur> "We've got some camo, at least for this area." 23:25 <&Arthur> (How far roughly are we from the starport?) 23:26 <~abudhabi> Fifty kilometers. 23:26 <&Arthur> (Okay, fuel will definitely not be a problem) 23:27 <&Arthur> "Let's start by getting us to within five kilometers or so from the starport if we can. That'll put us close enough to observe it." 23:32 <~abudhabi> Do you do so? 23:32 <&Arthur> Yes, let's. 23:32 <~abudhabi> Right. We'll do that next week. 23:32 <~abudhabi> GG on not getting yourselves killed!